What is "wrong" with these new subcompacts?

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One of the local used car lots has an '09 Versa S with only 5000 miles listed for $11,995. It won't let me link the actual car, but the website is http://www.melvinmotors.com if anyone wants to check it out. Kinda makes me wonder what's wrong with it, because to me that actually sounds reasonable! Of course, it's a model year old now, and, while low-mileage, still a used car. And it's still pretty basic, although it does have a/c, automatic, and a CD player. Oh, it's also the clunkier sedan model.

Those Hyundai Elantras and Sonatas are definitely a lot of car for the money. They still seem to depreciate pretty quickly, even though Hyundai has a good quality reputation these days. So I guess that makes them a winner all over...cheap AND dependable! I would've considered checking out a used Sonata when I was on the car hunt. A couple months ago a friend of mine had a Kia Spectra for a rental while his '04 Crown Vic was in the shop. I rode around in it a little bit, and thought it was a respectable little car.

Yeah, I'm thinking used Hyundais are in a perfect vortex right now. The quality is really good, but the general public hasn't fully caught on yet. So the resale is still kinda bad, based on an old reputation that no longer really applies. Win-win for a smart consumer. Jeez, there's a local '08 Sonata GLS with 30k miles, yeah its an ex-rental, but at $9988, its awfully hard to beat. I like the Elantra. I like the Accent, especially the SE, but they are still subject to the weird subcompact premium that we're talking about here...the others are a better deal. And there's very little gas mileage penalty.

I like the Yaris, and love the 1st gen Fit, but they just don't pencil as a used buy...

Re. the Elantra, and Hyundai in general... we bought a 2006 Elantra GLS automatic in December 2005, and it has been absolutely rock-solid reliable. It's had no warranty issues, or any glitches of any kind since purchase. I've been a import car buyer/owner since 1968, and with my experience, one kind of gets a "gut feel" of what's really good or bad in the market, regardless of what conventional or historical wisdom tells you. I looked at everything on the market in the Elantra's class in December 2005, drove them all, and felt this was really a good car (period), not factoring the money aspect. And, this is the previous generation Elantra! Out the door price was $13.5K. My thoughts have been rewarded, as the car is still like new 4 years after purchase. I don't worry about residuals, as I'm still driving a 1985 SAAB 900 - so that should illustrate how long I keep a car.

Compared to a 1996 Honda Civic and 2001 Toyota Corolla we've owned, the Elantra is head and shoulders above both in terms of lack of problems, warranty recalls, and reliability. Frankly, I'm impressed with Hyundai, and I've had a great experience with our local dealer too which is icing on the cake.

The Elantra is a good car. I had a 2000 wagon for nine years and around 170+k miles. Only issue was an exhaust manifold that cracked at about 130K miles which Hyundai replaced free of charge (apparently they got a bad batch and extended the warranty on them to 10 years unlimited miles). Great car, I was sad to give it up.

The sign said "No shoes, no shirt, no service", it didn't say anything about no pants.

Used car values are still totally screwed up from the combination of the implosion of leasing and the huge drop in new car sales. For a while when Volvo was closing out the 2009 S60s we were selling year old certified 2008 S60s with say 15,000 miles for within 1,500 dollars of brand new 2009 S60s.

Most people bought the new ones but a couple bought used. Things are a little better now but still screwy.

Ford Motor Co. will charge more than $23,000 for a fully loaded Fiesta, a new car smaller than the Focus.

..."The price is out there, and we already have 1,000 orders," said Jim Farley, Ford's group vice president of global marketing. "Americans have shown us if we bring out aspirational products, not only will they pay the base price, but go up."

The 2011 Fiesta, which goes on sale in summer, starts at $13,995 including shipping for the four-door sedan. The base five-door Fiesta starts at $15,795. The Focus starts at $16,535 including shipping.

I forget when they are going to dump the crap-ola current Focus for the one on the European platform - have they already done it? - but I am thinking the price will go up when they do.

In the meantime, if that $23K Fiesta is an RS with the luxury features offered in a Mini Cooper S, people might pay it. I would be hoping for an RS a little closer to the $20K price point, but then I have no desire for xenon headlights and in-dash NAV.

On the flip side, I bet that $14K base sedan will be pretty well stripped down, and that's a shame.

the fiesta 's' has features like electric power steering, advancetrac stability control, and telescoping wheel, which are not available on the focus 's', which starts at about 16,200.the fiesta has a wheel/tire package that can add just under 2k to the price.

Well isn't THAT a fine how-do-you-do! All the more reason to get that new Focus in place and bump up the base price and base feature content. They need to start focusing hard on being profitable with their small car sales.